1. Everyone, or just the poorer sort?

2. Has he any idea how hard it is to learn to speak a language before coming to live in a country? Hard enough when you’re there.

3. Has he forgotten about Wales?

“Migrants coming to Britain will be put on probation and be forced to earn their citizenship rights under a new deal outlined today by the home secretary, Jacqui Smith.”

And costlier:

“A new fund financed by a surcharge on immigration applications will be set up to give cash to areas of the country which experience problems due to immigration – such as over-subscribed schools.”

And worse:

Gordon Brown: “We will introduce a new English language requirement for those applying for a marriage visa and planning to settle in the UK – both as part of our determination that everyone who comes here to live should be able to speak English and to make sure that they cannot be exploited”

Or rather, ‘…so we can keep appeasing Daily Mail readers in the vain hope they’ll vote for us’

Surely that ought to read ‘Spanish practices’? And what are they going to do with all those English expats? (Yeah, I know – stupid question: it’s not about them at all)

By the way, I’m sure Blears would be up for some of that rhetoric:

The government rebalanced its community cohesion strategy more than 18 months ago, ensuring a new focus on promoting shared British values and integration. We have put far greater emphasis on everyone speaking English, including an end to automatic translation of all public information, and have proposals for new information packs, so all migrants understand and sign up to shared values.

Yep, she definitely is:

“Ms Blears also said there may be an alternative method in which messages can be communicated to non-English speakers.”

Semaphore, perhaps?

I’d prefer a more hostile characterisation (perhaps “stupid spoiled and self-centred arrogant little kids” might be close) but chacun a son goût.

On the substantive question: I think it’s established that to vote Conservative is to contract ethical leprosy in your voting hand, but on you can say how hard you feel like working to actually keep them out. I’ll not be voting since it would require the effort of applying for a postal vote from overseas and frankly:

(a) it’s not worth it for Tessa Jowell, not even slightly ;
(b) if Jowell loses then it’s a Tory landslide so it doesn’t really matter.

Anyway, I think we know that Labour are going to lose, and are going to deserve to lose, even though the price of them getting their just desserts is that the Repugnant Party are going to get in. I wonder if Hazel Blears will be the next leader? (I probably shouldn’t say it even in jest.)

Incidentally, a view from abroad. Recently, here in Spain, where an election is due next month, the objectionable leader of the Partido Popular, Señor Rajoy, proposed a contract for immigrants in which they would all promise to learn Spanish and respect Spanish customs (whatever that means) or be thrown out of the country.

Now if such a thing was proposed in the UK, what do you think Blears et al would say? “We’re already doing it”? “We thought of it first”? Here, the President, Zapatero, called it “intolerable”. Not all labour parties are yet the same.